These are the People Hoping to Die on Mars

Mars One is a not-for-profit organization based in the Netherlands that has put forward conceptual plans to establish a permanent human colony on Mars by 2025.

Mars One, a group that plans to send humans on a one-way trip to Mars, has announced its final 100 candidates. They have been selected from 200,000 applicants and will go on to further testing later this year, which they expect to include team-building exercises and later, isolation. From CNN

“The large cut in candidates is an important step towards finding out who has the right stuff to go to Mars,” Mars One co-founder and CEO Bas Lansdorp said in a statement. “These aspiring Martians provide the world with a glimpse into who the modern day explorers will be.” From Fox

The Mars One group is now considering 50 men and 50 women for four spots on its anticipated Red Planet reality show, where winners get a one-way ticket to Mars and are expected to start colonizing it for earthling viewers. It published the list of candidates and their bioson its website. From NY Dailynews

The remaining candidates will next participate in group challenges, to demonstrate their ability and willingness to deal with the rigors of Mars life. After another round of cuts, the finalists will be divided into four-person teams, which will train in a simulated Red Planet outpost. Eventually, Mars One intends to select 24 astronauts (six four-person teams), who will become full-time employees of the organization and prepare for the Mars colonization mission. From Space.com

The Feed Says:

I remain completely amazed that almost a quarter of a million people applied to be a part of this project. Would love to see a demographic and physiological breakdown of the applicants.